Masters

Masters, as the name suggests, is a series that concentrates on presenting recordings of the stars of DG's digital catalogue. As Diapason noted: "one does indeed find here the greatest names of the DG catalogue: Abbado, Bernstein, Giulini, Karajan, Argerich, Kremer, Pollini, Ludwig ...," not to mention Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mischa Maisky, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Trevor Pinnock, Reinhard Goebel and John Eliot Gardiner.

The strength of the recordings has continued during the whole length of the series. In December 1994, CD Compact of Spain declared of the opening 25 releases: "an irresistible offer ... Collectors are given the opportunity to search out discographical treasures in this reissue series." In 1996 the magazine wrote again: "The latest set of releases in DG's Masters series contains five recordings of such stature that I can recommend them unreservedly."
The UK's Gramophone was able to write about CD 445 600-2, Karajan's interpretation of Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen: "My last DG Masters disc certainly offers a performance that is masterly in every respect, Karajan's superb Gramophone Award-winning 1980 digital recording of Strauss's Metamorphosen, which has probably not been surpassed on CD for intensity of feeling and the sumptuous sound with its refined detail."

The cover work of the series is distinctive, with Old Masters paintings or artist photos sharing half the cover space with gold and silver backgrounds for Yellow Label and Archiv Produktion releases respectively.